We are all constantly on the go. Whether it is to the office, or overnight or extended vacation, most of the time, one or more personal care items will also make the trip. We will be accompanied by one or more of the following: our eye-glasses, tooth brush, personal hygiene items, medicines, our own special soap, or the like, the assortment and quantity depending on the length of the trip away from home.
Various solutions exist. We may use a single pouch or overnight personal care kit into which we place the various personal items we plan to bring. This implies that our trip is at least overnight and obviously this type container is not appropriate for short, daytime trips from home. Further, individual items are oft times just placed in the carrying container with other personal care articles with minimal regard for the possible deleterious effect of one contacting another. Many times the carrying container is difficult to open or lacks a suitable closure fastener to keep it closed while in transit.
Various cases, containers and boxes have been developed that provide different solutions for the needs of the traveler. Representative examples are shown in the following United States Patents or published applications: 2005/0051454; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,926,135; 6,726,004; 5,351,818; 5,082,114; 5,035,319; 4,948,303; 3,709,538; 3,286,829; 2,797,015; 2,251,138; 1,358,540; and, RE 30,882.
It is therefore a principal object to provide a container which is molded in its entirety except for the closure mechanism which is separately molded and installed on the container.
It is a further object to provide an integral container which includes a top and bottom portion and plastic hinge between the two, which are molded together in one continuous piece.
It is still another object to provide a hinge member which is dimensioned to provide an inherent bias for urging the top portion away from the bottom portion when the closure member is released from the closed position.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a means for generating an audible click when the container is opened or closed.
Towards the accomplishment of these and other objects and advantages which will become more apparent after a consideration of the accompanying drawings and the following description, there is disclosed a molded container which comprises a top portion having a front and rear edge and a bottom portion having a front and rear edge. The front and rear edges are coextensive with each other when the container is in a closed position. The top and bottom portions are joined by a hinge portion of predetermined thickness. The hinge portion connects together at least a portion of the coextensive rear edges of the top and bottom portions. The top and bottom portions and the hinge portion are molded together from a predetermined type of plastic to form an integral one-piece unit. A latch mechanism includes an arcuately shaped molded latch member which has a rearward portion and a front portion and includes pivot means and a latch engagement portion as molded.
Each of the top and bottom portions have respective partially arcuately shaped sections beginning at their respective front edge and extending back towards their respective rear edge. Each of the top and bottom portions further includes a respective molded recess area formed in their respective partially arcuately shaped section. The molded recess areas extend from the front edge of the respective top and bottom portions back towards the respective rear edges.
The molded recess area of the top portion includes molded complementing pivot means for providing a pivotal connection when engaged by the pivot means of the latch member. The molded recess area of the bottom portion includes a molded contoured segment of predetermined design so as to engage the latch engagement portion of the latch member when the front edge of the top portion is brought contiguous to the front edge of the bottom portion and an operator applies pressure to a portion of the latch member disposed between the pivotal connection and the front edge.
The latch engagement portion is disengaged from the molded contoured segment when an operator applies pressure to a second portion of the latch member disposed between the pivotal connection and the rear edge of the top portion.
The latch member is dimensioned and contoured to nest in the molded recess area at assembly. The latch member includes a top surface which is contoured so as to provide a continuous smooth surface with the respective partially arcuately shaped section of the top portion.
The top surface of the latch member can include at least one surface anomaly which typically is a depression or a raised portion. This is disposed on the top surface between the pivotal connection and the rear edge of the top portion. The surface anomaly is intended to facilitate the locating of a point on the top surface in the blind, so that the operator can apply pressure to thereby disengage the latch engagement portion from the molded contoured segment.
The top surface of the latch member may include a second anomaly other than the one used to open the container, which is disposed on the top surface between the pivotal connection and the front edge of the top portion so as to facilitate the locating of a point on the top surface where the operator can apply pressure to engage the latch engagement portion and the molded contoured segment when it is desired to close the container.
The hinge portion is dimensioned and adapted to have an inherent bias such that when the latch engagement portion is disengaged from the molded contoured segment, the inherent bias moves the top portion away from the bottom portion.
For certain usages the bottom portion of the container can have an interior surface which is molded to include a plurality of raised portions interior to the bottom portion which are arranged and adapted so as to support any contents, for example, a soap bar, within the container off from the interior surface.
Still for other uses, a separator member will be pivotally connected to a portion of the interior surface of the container. The separator member functions to provide at least two separate compartments interior to the container. The separator member typically, as molded, includes pivoting means for pivotally connecting the separator member to one or the other of the top or bottom portions to form the two separate compartments. The separator member includes means for disengaging the separator member from one or the other of the top or bottom portions to thereby permit access to contents contained in the sealed-off compartment. The respective volume of at least one of the two compartments can be subdivided into a plurality of smaller volumes by a corresponding number of partition members.
The rearward portion of the latch member and the molded recess area of the top portion can include complementing segments juxtaposed to each other and configured so as to result in an audible click when there is relative movement between the two as the latch mechanism is engaged during the opening and closing operations.
The molded containers can have varying respective lengths, heights and widths to accommodate different contents.
The interior of the molded containers can be modified to accommodate any number of products which may be placed therein.